Many automotive applications such as gear boxes and axle shafts require the coupling of rings or gears to a shaft. Typically, monolithic tubes or shafts have a plurality of spaced apart cylindrical portions journally mounted onto the shaft. These spaced apart portions are typically coupled to the shaft utilizing methods such as interference fits, welding, and brazing. While these long known methods provide a stable mechanism for the component manufacture, each of these methods have a large potential for off axis deformation of the shaft during the formation process.
Additional methods for coupling rings to shafts include inserting coupling pins into the cylindrical portions or immediately adjacent to the cylindrical portions to couple the cylindrical portions. Inserting the coupling pins through the ring may adversely affect the surface of the cylindrical portion as well as the possibility of loosening over time. As such, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages associated with prior systems for annularly coupling members to a shaft.